Royal Court stages autumn Riot

Published 17 October 2012

Inspired by the actions of Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot, the Royal Court is to hold its own day of punk political spirit on 3 November.

Short plays by Kin writer EV Crowe, The Village Bike playwright Penelope Skinner and Vera, Vera, Vera’s Hayley Squires, along with pieces by Russian writers Yaroslava Pulinovich and Yulia Yakovleva, will form part of the ‘afternoon of anarchic artistic expression’ that will also include performances of material from Pussy Riot’s courtroom trial and a debate on feminism in the arts.

Speaking about the day, Crowe, whose play Hero opens at the Sloane Square venue next month, said: “Pussy Riot’s political art woke up sleeping feminists all over the world. They forced me to ask myself, am I a bit less ‘Pussy Riot’ and a bit more just pussy? It feels imperative to learn from their defiance, to respond actively, and above all else to not go back to sleep.”

The afternoon of dramatic chaos, which costs £8 for just the debate or £15 for the whole event, will be the second show of support the Royal Court has offered to the three members of Pussy Riot arrested earlier this year at an anti-Putin protest.